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ANNVILLE – It’s a fine line made thinner by game situations and seasonal circumstance.

Attack or be patient? Focus your efforts on the offensive end or the defensive side? And what influence does confidence have on the entire equation?

Any way you slice it, it’s no fun playing from behind.

On Saturday afternoon inside Lebanon Valley College’s Lou Sorrentino Gymnasium, during the opening game of the ninth annual Rhoades Foundation Classic, the Annville-Cleona boys’ basketball team fell behind early and never could catch up, during a 68-48 setback to Middletown. The Little Dutchmen slipped into a double-digit hole less than two minutes in, and could never concoct a formula that would allow them back into the game.

The non-league loss left Annville-Cleona 4-6 overall. After starting the season 3-0, the Little Dutchmen have now dropped six of their last seven outings.

Middletown upped its season mark to 5-4.

“Unfortunately, the energy level wasn’t there at the start,” said Annville-Cleona head coach Chris Bradford. “You can hope you can use that (a good start) as a springboard. If we play good basketball teams, you’re going to see teams with firepower. Those guys (the Blue Raiders) in that locker room got a heck of a win last night against Trinity, and it carried over. But that’s no excuse for us.

“Obviously it wouldn’t be hard to point out what we didn’t do in the first half,” added Bradford. “But it was pretty much an even game after that.”

The Blue Raiders needed just 24 seconds of game clock to get on the scoreboard, in the form of a three-pointer. And it was pretty much all down hill for Annville-Cleona after that.

Middletown went on to score the next eight points to open an 11-0 lead, a run that was interrupted by a Nate Myers reverse lay-in and a DaShaun Archer short jumper. But on the other side of it, the Blue Raiders ripped off another 12 unanswered points to extend their advantage to 23-4.

Annville-Cleona never managed to make the Blue Raiders uncomfortable again.

“You worry about your guys’ heads when they come out like that,” said Bradford. “The second quarter was a positive sign. The message at halftime was: ‘Where are we getting our shots from?’ Ultimately, we didn’t do the things we needed to, to get back in the game. There are no moral victories.”

The closest the Little Dutchmen could come to Middletown in the second period was 14 points, and that happened twice – first on a Myers’ three-pointer three minutes into the period that made it 27-13 and then on Adam Long’s steal and lay-in 3:38 before intermission that made it 29-15. But the Blue Raiders closed the first half on a 10-2 spurt, and with a 39-17 advantage.

“We played man (-to-man defense),” said Bradford. “We don’t play a ton of it. That team’s capable of putting 80 up any night. They’re stronger than us. You could see that. But our on-the-ball defense has got to be better.”

With 16 points, Myers was the only Little Dutchmen scorer to reach double digits. The Blue Raiders made good on 14 of their 18 free throw attempts.

“He’s a quiet kid,” said Bradford of Myers. “But on any given night he has the ability to put 30 on the board. He’s a guy we lean on. He can play angry if he needs to. But he’s a coach-able kid.”

In the third quarter, the Little Dutchmen did pulled to within 49-34 of Middletown, on another steal and lay-in from Adam Long. But then they went the next 2:27 without a point.

“I’m never going to say that,” said Bradford, when asked when the outcome had been decided. “If you need a time, I took our starters out with 1:40 left. I’m not going to give up. I’m not a fire-and-brimstone kind of guy. We’re a border team and our motivation has to come from ourselves. It’s not something you’ve got to search for. It’s something you’ve got to have.

“We’re 4-6,” added Bradford, “and we want to be better.”

Before the starters came out, a three-pointer from Ryan Matthews and a steal and lay-up by Don Friday made it a 59-42 game.

“I teach all of those kids,” said Bradford of the Blue Raiders. “It’s where I’m from. It’s where I live. There’s AAU ties. So there are some little extra things there. But our guys aren’t going to be happy about that outcome.”

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